Deputies Follow Footprints Left in Snow and Charge Three Teen-Age Boys in Property Crime Spree

Lexington County Sheriff’s Department detectives charged three teen-age boys with breaking into one garage that is attached to a home and breaking into six motor vehicles in the Coldstream subdivision near Irmo during a winter storm on the morning of Wednesday, January 29. Deputies identified the three boys, ages 16 and 14, by following trails of footprints that the three boys left in about two inches of freshly fallen snow as they carried out their crime spree.

Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts said detectives on Thursday, January 30 served arrest warrants on Jordan Anthony Gilmore, 16, of 3608 Cairnbrook Drive, Columbia, and Cameron Ross, 16, of 328 Beachwood Lane, Columbia. Gilmore and Ross each were charged as adults with one count of first-degree burglary and six counts of breaking into a motor vehicle. Gilmore and Ross were being held on Friday, January 31 at a pre-trial detention facility that the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice operates off Broad River Road in Columbia.

Detectives on Thursday also recommended that the 11th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office prosecute a 14-year-old Columbia boy in family court in Lexington County on one count of first-degree burglary and six counts of breaking into a motor vehicle, Metts said. The sheriff said he cannot identify the 14-year-old boy because the boy is a child.

An arrest warrant alleges that on Wednesday Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy unlawfully entered a garage that is attached to a home on Wycombe Road with the intent to break into a motor vehicle that was parked inside the garage, Metts said.

An arrest warrant also alleges that on Wednesday Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy unlawfully entered a motor vehicle that was parked outside a second home on Wycombe Road with the intent to steal items from the vehicle, Metts said.

In addition, an arrest warrant alleges that on Wednesday Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy unlawfully entered a motor vehicle that was parked outside a third home on Wycombe Road with the intent to steal items from the vehicle.

An arrest warrant further alleges that on Wednesday Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy unlawfully entered a motor vehicle that was parked outside a fourth home on Wycombe Road with the intent to steal items from the vehicle, Metts said.

An arrest warrant also alleges that on Wednesday Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy unlawfully entered a motor vehicle that was parked outside a home on Sterling Bridge Road with the intent to steal items from the vehicle, Metts said.

In addition, an arrest warrant alleges that on Wednesday Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy unlawfully entered a motor vehicle that was parked outside a home on Smith’s Market Road with the intent to steal items from the vehicle, Metts said.

At about 1:49 a.m. on Wednesday deputies responded to a call for help concerning suspicious persons who were seen outside a home on Guild Hall Drive, Metts said. A homeowner heard the burglar alarm activate on his motor vehicle, went outside to investigate and found fresh footprints in the snow, leading from the door of his vehicle to the road.

The homeowner reported the incident to telecommunications operators at the Lexington County Communications Center, who dispatched deputies to handle the call for help, Metts said.

The homeowner followed the footprints in the snow to Wycombe Road and kept telecommunications operators updated by telephone about his movements, Metts said. Deputies met with the homeowner on Wycombe Road. The homeowner told deputies that he saw three teen-agers outside his home who had attempted to unlawfully enter his motor vehicle.

Deputies encountered Gilmore while Gilmore was walking on Stamford Bridge Drive towards Nursery Road, Metts said. Gilmore was wearing a sweater, dark pants and black gloves. Deputies found an open mailbox outside a nearby home and footprints in the snow that led to the door of a motor vehicle that was parked outside a nearby home.

The homeowner positively identified Gilmore as one of the three teen-age boys that he had seen outside his Guild Hall Drive home, attempting to unlawfully enter his motor vehicle, Metts said.

Deputies tracked the three teen-age boys’ movements by following footprints that the boys left in the snow, Metts said. Deputies determined that the three boys tried to unlawfully enter or did unlawfully enter more than 30 motor vehicles that were parked outside homes on Charter House Road, Clymen Court, Greenhouse Road, Guild Hall Drive, Smith’s Market Road, Sterling Bridge Drive and Wycombe Road in the Coldstream subdivision. The three boys also unlawfully opened U.S. mailboxes outside at least 10 homes in the subdivision.

Deputies followed the footprints that had been left by multiple persons to a home in the Coldstream subdivision, Metts said. Deputies found Ross and the 14-year-old boy at the home and placed Ross and the 14-year-old boy in investigative detention. Detectives on Wednesday released Gilmore, Ross and the 14-year-old boy into the custody of their parents.

Metts asked anyone with information about additional criminal activity involving Gilmore, Ross or the 14-year-old boy to call the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department at (803) 785-8230 or CrimeStoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC. Citizens also can report information anonymously by accessing the Crime Tip link on the Sheriff’s Department web site (www.lexingtonsheriff.com).